Elena (August 28th and 29th at the Cleveland Cinematheque)

[ELENA screens Thursday August 28th at 9:30 pm and Friday August 29th at 7:30 pm at the Cleveland Cinematheque.]

Review by Charles Cassady, Jr.

I’m not sure whether ELENA falls more into the camp of art or art therapy. addressing the tragic issue of major depression and suicide - as it has impacted her own family - Petra Costa's feature is a strikingly lyrical visual poem, blending freshly shot, surreal material with family home movies and low-resolution archival videos.

The filmmaker's narration is a wispy open letter read together late sister Elena Costa, a Brazilian stage actress and occasional model. Both Petra and Elena were daughters of a pair of card-carrying 1960s Brazilian communists, and, like a lot of things on the political Left, the marriage failed. This seemed to wound Elena most deeply, and she withdrew into performance, earning media notices at home for her theater work.

Rio 2

Review by Pete Roche

RIO ended with a triumphant musical number at the titular Brazlian city’s annual Carnival.  RIO 2 commences with a similarly bombastic New Year’s Eve celebration, during which director Carlos Saldanha (ICE AGE: THE MELTDOWN) reintroduces us to the first film’s amusing animal ensemble. 

Former pet bird Blu (Jesse Eisenberg) has been successfully reintroduced into the wild and has learned to fly.  He and soul-made Jewel (Anne Hathaway) now live atop a sunny sanctuary with their three kids, who between them display all the quirks of your typical teenager:  chubby Carla (Rachel Chow) is musically-inclined daughter with an attitude; brainy Bia (Amandla Stenberg) is a petite Jewel clone; and free-spirited son Tiago (Pierce Gagnon) is a goofy miniature version of his dad.